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Five Marketing Mistakes We Keep On Making

Jenna Kutcher 

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January 25, 2016

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People always ask me for marketing advice. With technology constantly growing, changing, evolving, it feels impossible to keep up with it all, but there are five common mistakes I continue to see businesses and entrepreneurs making when it comes time to market their businesses. If you ever feel like your speaking into the void and hoping someone bites back, this post is for you! A lot of these mistakes require only simple fixes, it just means we need to really be thoughtful, mindful, and snare about how we are putting ourselves and our businesses out there and how that can attract clients (the right ones) to us and our work!

Stop doing what everyone else is

From logos to colors, designs to images, everything looks the same. We continue to look at what everyone else is doing for inspiration and all of a sudden we all look the same (trust me, this trap can get me, too!) I have a saying, “head down, eyes up.” I want to keep my head down to others work and my eyes on what’s important, what sets me apart, and why I am different than the sea of others in my industry. It’s human nature to want to blend in, (hello, awkward feelings of wanting to sit with the cool kids at school) but to be a successful business you MUST differentiate. Only dead fish go with the flow, don’t be a dead fish.

Our “about me” sections have become a place to toot our own horn

We want to shout that we won all of these awards and have all of these features, but do our clients even understand them? Do they know what the acronyms are or what the accolades mean, or even what the heck we are saying? Probably not. Do you waste your time stating the obvious? “I love documenting people in love…” Well, duh, you’re a wedding photographer. I hope you love what you do, moving on. If you need help creating an epic “about me” page, I recorded a free training with a worksheet, you can get them here. (Just sign up for instant access and you can download!)

Are you speaking to the void and hoping someone, somewhere bites?

Somewhere along the way, we thought our social media accounts should become a mountain we would scream off of, we stopped trying to talk to the people we were trying to reach and started shouting into the void. Your messaging might be falling on deaf ears if you aren’t taking the time to think about who your ideal clients are and how you really, actually need to reach them (and how you would speak to them if you were face to face with them!) Stop shouting from the roof tops, start treating your content like a conversation over coffee, okay?

Our pricing only sets us up to be price shopped

Oh, the glorious pricing dilemma, it’s age old and haunts each of us. Remember how we all blend in? Our “about me” sections aren’t telling people why we are different, and we all look the same? Yeah, that’s the recipe to being price shopped. We spend too much time on our websites and Instagram feeds and we forget that our communication needs to be as well thought out and designed as the stuff we post on the world wide web. When we drop the ball on those initial inquiries we are inviting our potential clients to price shop us and that’s just what they will do!

We think there is a quick fix for everything

Instead of taking courses or doing the hard work to set ourselves up for success, we think that if we spend a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred there on advertising, our inboxes will fill with inquiries. Guys, I hate to break it to you, but you want to reach your ideal clients, not just any clients. Instead of wasting money on major websites, spend your time really fine-tuning your marketing messaging, your brand, your vision, and your communication! There is no quick fix for the inquiry game, don’t let people trick you into believing that there is.


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  1. Amy Bjornson says:

    AGREE with you on all of these, thankf for the reminder 🙂

  2. Christina Scalera says:

    Your take on about pages has helped me shape how I present my business to the world and what I tell clients. And I laugh every time I hear you talk about them, because it’s so true… I am disappointed when I just see an about page that says someone likes their job. I also don’t understand why so many wedding creatives tell their clients they’re already married to the most amazing man in the world. I’d be super defensive to read that as a newly engaged bride-to-be!! Maybe that just means I need to find the most amazing therapist or something lol…

  3. Emily says:

    Number 3 is definitely something I need to work on! Every time I post something on Instagram, I tend to just be speaking to every single bride in the world (whoops!) and conversation is normally lacking 🙁 Changing that TODAY!!!

  4. Nastasia says:

    As a baby in the blogging world I struggle with all of these things! Thank you for the reminder. Its is way to easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, trying to shout to the world and find quick fixes but these simple little messages definitely bring me back to the reality of blogging. (if that makes sense). Thank you X

  5. Anesha says:

    God Jenna! GOLD!

  6. I came across your blog because somewhere said that it was about Self love and positive body image… right up my ally!
    I have almost been blogging for 5 months now and I can say that I have found a passion for sharing my passion! It sounds crazy I know… but the feeling of satisfaction after I finish the hours of content on my next blog post is like something I have never felt doing anything else.
    The problem I am facing now is that I am finding it difficult to be patient for my blog to continue to grow. I love your images and the way you have created your content and I will definitely be using the tips you have shared.
    Thank you for the inspiration and help.

  7. Hey Jenna,

    I came across you and your blog while listening to Melyssa Griffin’s Pursuit with Purpose podcast, and I’m so glad I did! I love your sassy spirit, and I totally agree with you about the need to be different. Honestly I see so many blogs on Pinterest these days and I can’t tell them apart. (I’m certainly not perfect about this either.)

    Also, I found your Goal Digger podcast shortly after checking out your blog and proceeded to binge listen to 10 of the episodes in a row! My favorite so far? How to Create and Cultivate Your Best Idea. It was amazing.

    Thanks for all that you do.

    Aminta Demadura

    PS: My husband and I were wedding photographers in a past life too! And I hear Allison Marshall was as well. What a weird coincidence 🙂

  8. Lisa Lander says:

    #5 resonates as something I think I always hope there is, but I don’t frequently do. If theres a harder way, I tend to do it :/. Thanks again for all your wise wisdom.

  9. Malcolm says:

    I really vibe with your first point. I see a lot of “me too” approaches to everything online. But when you start seeing the same thing everywhere, it’s hard to retain your originality because you’re subtly influenced by what you see most. Are there any rule of thumbs you follow for staying authentic to yourself when creating?

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Before you get any further... Hi! I'm Jenna Kutcher!

A small town Minnesota photographer, podcaster, educator and puppy rescuer, my happiest days are spent behind my computer screen sharing my secrets with the world. I'm glad you're here.

I’m an expert at online marketing, a nerd when it comes to the numbers, and my obsession is teaching others how to make a living doing what they love (without it taking over their life). 

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